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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Well, gonna help my sister out in learning Korean words and anyone who's going to Korea for that matter. Just found out that Korean is actually really hard to learn with the pronunciation of the same consonant changing depending on whether it's coupled with a vowel or another consonant or is it at the end of a word. Nonetheless, let's just start simple by putting some common everyday words then maybe later on I'll put more details on it. (By the way, it's not exactly A Korean Word A Day as I don't think I'll be that hardworking in putting one each day. Rather I might just put up a few when I post.)

neh - Yes.(Pronunciation pretty much like English, like the horse neigh, only thing is the the intonation sounds like in the middle of a sentence like you read halfway the a in a sentence.)a-ni-yo - No.(Pronunciation - a as in father and ni as in niece and yo as in yolk. Stress on last syllable.)kam-sa-ham-ni-da - Thank You. (I'm sure most of you would know this since this one is very common)(kam -like come. sa is sa and the rest is just what you see. a as in father and i as in him.)a-nyong-ha-se-yo - Hello. Can also be used as how are you. Also very common, think you should know it by now. a as in father, e as in say, nyong as in song, and yo as in yolk. Goodbye is not much different. Just change the ha to ka and add a hi in front. So it's:a-nyong-hi-ka-se-yo - Goodbye :) Take note this goodbye is said to a person who is leaving and you're staying. If you're leaving its:a-nyong-hi-kye-se-yo - The kye, is a cross between k and g with the word e. Almost like saying can.

Okay, I think that should be enough for these few days. I'll try to understand more of this language (So difficult).

Take note the consonant was only coupled with the first vowel so it takes a softer approach for example the first consonant, it sounds more like k than g and the 3rd consonant sounds more like t than d. ^^ HaPPy TRyiNG!!! ^^

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Was at Jaya One (Section 17) yesterday evening to have a snack at the area. There was an event ongoing at that place, it read IACT Street Party. Thought it was gonna be good. Thought wrong.When I was there, Manhand, a Chinese Rap Group was performing. Surprisingly, I enjoyed that one. It sounded kinda okay. They performed two songs before those IACT people wanted an encore from them (Don't ask me what IACT stands for, I hope it's not 'It's A Crazy Team!'.) And then they started a third song. It's not too bad but yet the group members themselves said "Sorry, it sounded kinda terrible." It sounded okay to me. Easy kinda rap.

Next came out some guy with another guy to do some rapping. lol. I didn't manage to catch the name because he sounded like he had trouble pronouncing it as well. lol. That, in my opinion is awful. I dunno. Maybe there are people who like this kinda way of rapping?

The last performance was an all too familiar band name I've heard of, One Buck Short. They really had stage presence cause they seem like a bunch of monkeys jumping up and down and circling around. Rahul looks okay though, with the way he moves. But if you ask me, they're still making noise instead of music. All I know is that I'm hearing noise instead of any melody there. And the lead vocalist's voice is just drowned out by the noise. Can't hear his voice at all for me. The drummer is good though, I would say he has some skills there and Rahul playing the guitar is okay.

Why I'm familiar with this group is because I used to be college classmates with two of them! I'm absolutely tickled at what they did that time when they recorded their songs on CDs. Before I proceed, here's a warning. If you're a fan of One Buck Short, I would say you better stop reading this entry as this might hurt their reputation! Ok? All clear? Right, here's the story. They first made a recording of their songs on a CD. One day in college, they asked my friend whether he wants to have a listen to their song and they'll burn a CD for him. My friend obliged and said ok. The next day, he was handed a CD to him and was asked 50 sen. My friend said "What?!" "50 sen" came the reply. My friend was laughing away and ask him again, "Are you serious?" "Yes" came the reply. And so my friend proceeded to hand him the 50 sen instead and told me and my other friend, doesn't matter. I'm gonna treat it as if I'm giving a beggar 50 sen. The next day he told me and my friend a very funny thing. He took one listen to the CD. 5 seconds into the first song he quickly skipped to the second song. Just seconds after that he skipped again. On the third song, he quickly threw the CD into the dustbin because he couldn't stand the noise of their supposed songs. Then came back the lead vocalist asking him, "So what you think of the songs?" Not wanting to offend him, he just said, "Okay, not bad". I do like to say, that they've certainly improved though. It used to be I couldn't stand 10 seconds of any of their songs. Now at least I can bear for 1 minute of their noise. But their live performance yesterday, I couldn't stand 10 seconds of their noise too. Goes to show they sound worse live.

As I was about to leave after my snack, they had a wonderful fire dance performance. Now that, I would say is entertaining. Sorry, got no pictures to show because I didn't take my camera along. Maybe next time I should carry it with me wherever I go!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Recently I've been given this task to come up with a list for taking preventive measure to ensure that the server would run well (Windows 2003 server, that is). Be given it's water when it's wilting, to oil it when it starts creaking (Please don't take that literally or you'll damage your server!) At first, I thought all I need to do is do a simple google search and like magic, I will get the list I wanted. Unfortunately, such list don't exist. Well, it does exist in one place and that document was not free. I was surprise that nobody has ever come up with a simple check-up to do list for Windows server. The reason people give is that each company's server serves and performs different functions and hence it's impossible to actually list out what to do. I somewhat agree to that statement but don't you think that simple procedures that applies to all servers like checking hard disk space can be done? Hence, I've come up with a very simple to do checklist for Windows servers and hope people can benefit from this. Bear in mind that this list only lists very basic maintainence work. For a more detail one, you would have to look into your server's functionality like is it an FTP server? Then you might need to check it's connectivity from an outside source and how fast is it's read/write performance from an external source accessing the FTP server and things like that. Ok, without further ado, I present you my crappy list!

1. Check your servers hard disk space (like I mentioned before!)This is especially more critical for data and backup servers as data and backup servers can fill up hard disk space in a short period of time. Do it on a daily basis for such servers. Clear off old unwanted data or if still wanna keep the old data, do a DVD backup or the likes of it. Tape backups? Pfffttt!!! Only when your data is expendable after 2 weeks. From the hard disk properties, there's also a valuable tool in freeing hard disk space which is the disk cleanup.From 'My Computer', right click on the hard disk you wanna free hard disk space and click on 'properties' (I'm sure you'll know where to go anyway if you're suppose to manage servers.)From there you'll see some options on what to clear and how much disk space you'll free up if you clear that particular item. Also if you're comfortable with it, you can delete off the $NTUninstallKB(some number here)$ hidden system folders. This is actually uninstall information for those windows update that is installed. Take note though that by deleting these you won't be able to uninstall the corresponding windows update through the control panel anymore.

2. Check running processesIf it's the first time around, better establish a baseline first on what process is running and how many processes are running. Then, just check against that to know whether is there any new processes running and what are they? This way, you'll know somethings fishy if an unknown process starts running. (By the way, this is accessed through your control-alt-del key and select task manager if you don't already know!)

3. Check event viewer log listMany people busy with their work, often forget about this after awhile when they see everything's running fine but it's good to check everyday, even though the server's running fine to see whether is there any error message or even warning messages. The area to best check is the application and system area. This can be accessed from 'administrative tools' (control panel if it's not listed in the start menu) event viewer.

4. Check AntivirusYes, it's automated but ensure that the virus definition updates are successful. And ensure that the scanning does not indicate some threats in there that aren't cleared.

5. Windows updateThis I highly recommend turning off automatic update and change to choose what I want to install instead so you can keep track of what windows update you install on which day and whether is it giving you problems in the server. Yes, I know there are log files created in the windows folder everytime it installs a particular update but I just love to consolidate everything into one file instead.

6. BackupI'm sure most if not all companies have their own backup schedule to adhere to but it's good to once in a while have a full backup of the whole entire freaking server just in case. For me, I feel once a month doing this would be good and do a differential backup once a week. Take note that this is in additionto existing backups of critical data. Check daily whether the backups are successful and also it would be good if there are resources where you can test whether the restoration of backups would be successful. Don't forget, off-site backup is important too for disaster recovery!

7. Processor and RAM UsageThis can be viewed from the task manager as wellin the performance tab. Check whether if it's low in memory or if CPU usage is high. You can navigate to the processes tab to see which process is hogging the CPU usage if that happens.

8. Disk PerformanceIt's best to use utility to monitor.Something like this one:disktt

9. Windows ServicesI'm still trying to figure out what are the most common windows services that are required to run. Some common ones are the DNS server/client, WINS, print spooler (if it requires printing)and some things to probably turn off might be telnet and remote registry if you don't use those services. Windows Services is access through 'Administrative Tools' ---> 'Services'.

10. Active Directory Users and Computers (or the local server users)Mostcompanies would have a standard in when to delete a user profile or account when the employee leaves so I'm not gonna delve on it.

11. Network ConnectivityOnly need to check on whether is it accessible to the LAN computers and if it needs to access through the Internet, check whether it's accessible.

12. Firewall ExceptionIt's good to have a weekly check on whether the firewall is allowing any peculiar exception through.

That's all I gather for the time being. Of course it can be more specific based on what the server was built for but this is just a general one where it applies to all servers!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

For the whole of this week, it's been really, really hot. And this heat has affected me to the degree of sleeping difficulty at night. Ever since Monday, I've been dozing off at work, mornings and afternoons. As soon as 10 o'clock arrives, it's dozing off time again! This will happen all the way till lunchtime. Then after lunch, at 2.30pm, it starts again! Right up until 5pm where it's real close to going home time. And the cycle just repeats itself the next day again.

Trying to revive my studies again (which I've been lazily avoiding ever since my previous 2 jobs!) and I tell you it doesn't seem as easy as it used to be anymore. My motivation for increasing my knowledge has depleted to the extent of a great struggle with my laziness. Just reading a few lines on IT books or practicing my Japanese seems like a chore that is really heavy. I hope this is just a temporary setback. I really hope that pretty soon I can become that person who really thirsts for knowledge again. In the meantime, it's just a ginormous (~by the way, this is actually an English word!~) battle inside my head.

These past few days, a lot of people from my company took leave too! Plus if you take a look around the streets these past few days (Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya that is), it's not as congested as it's suppose to be. It's as if people has some sort of connection where they planned to take leave together!

Nothing much exciting happened recently, merely going through the motions. Oh yeah, today my assistant told me that he'd probably won't be able to last 6 months in this company due to our IT boss' unhelpful behavior. He said he might be leaving in a month or two. Well, let's see how it goes, it's really up to him and I'm not gonna stop him if he's that unhappy.

Actually was kinda thinking of putting the topic about this on my blog some time ago. All and behold, came across an interesting topic in the forum, asked a few questions, exchanged a few messages and voilà, suddenly I became a guest blogger for Emily. Kinda interesting getting to post in somebody else's blog. Maybe I'll do it again for someone else. Just had to wait and see. Only time will tell. 'Wait and see' and 'time will tell', ha, two of Utada Hikaru's song.

On another note, April is passing reaaaaalllyyyy slooooowwwllllyyyyy. Partially it's because it has no Public Holiday in it and it's after the first three months of many public holidays. Oddly enough this is also the month where I had quite a bit of free time and that's when I try and spend my moolah around. All thanks to no phone calls coming in this month to ask me to fix their computers. Strangely enough, my homely type of personality altered into outgoing mode and I started visiting some shopping malls to have a walkaround.

With the many recent developments of Petaling Jaya of late, shopping malls are booming around as if the economy never took a downturn at all! We have Tropicana Mall, NZX, Jaya One, Jaya 33 which all these came up recently and they're still developing the business centre cum mall named Paradigm! I have to say that the government is stupid to allow all these development to come up when they haven't done a thing yet to alleviate the traffic condition. I remembered when the Kelana Jaya Giant came up (Which doesn't make much sense when there's already a Giant which is of smaller size nearby. Still operational when they should've closed it) there was a traffic havoc right in front of it. All because cars are stuck to enter the parking lot which extended the line right up out to the highway. Then only the government realize it's mistake. Then only they closed the entrance from the highway and the only way in was through the back way. This merely complicates the road system and cause confusion for motorists. Typical Malaysian road.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Recently, the government has been blacklisting tax dodgers from leaving the country by not allowing them to leave the country. I just found out after that news that there's actually a website for the Immigration department and there, you can check whether are you allowed to leave the country or blacklisted.The website is: www.imi.gov.myHere's where to check the status of whether you're clear for takeoff:Travel Status Check

Here's how it looks like and where to key in....

After keying in your ID number in the text box, click the 'check' button below the text box to proceed with the checking.And if there's no restriction it should look something like this...(minus the smiley face and comments with the red arrow, of course)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

My IT boss is beginning to get on my nerves. I know he's a nice guy and such, but piling pressure on me, choosing to change his mind in a whim of fancy? My goodness, why on earth is he my boss?

Yesterday, we were having our weekly meeting and just suddenly he decided that we should just tell him an update of what's happening around? If you want us to do a highlight of what happen for the past week instead of sharing the documents for you to go through just say so beforehand!!! Is it so difficult to tell us so that we can prepare? What's with the you guys should be talking instead of me talking all the time? You're the boss, you're the one who chaired the meeting, why are we suppose to talk? Isn't the chairperson suppose to be the one talking?!Really miss my third job's boss. That's the best boss I've ever had. Every Friday weekly meeting was a pleasure not a pressure. It's more like a time to hear his stories and experience and not only an update to him of what we are doing or has been done. Also a time where he can advice us on matters on how to proceed if we're stuck. He's also a really good boss because he always stick up for us. Wouldn't just leave you in a lurch if other people is being difficult to you. Not like my current boss. "Just have to learn how to deal with these people"?! These people respond differently to me because I'm having a lower position. If you say the same thing of course they'll accept your reasoning because of your position! If I say the same thing they'll be all defensive and start talking all sorts of nonsense to make you to either agree with them and if you don't they'll just complain about you.This is not the the first time he changed his mind all of a sudden either. My assistant has been complaining about him on that a few times too.

Speaking about my assistant, that's the 2nd reason why I'm beginning to hate my job. That guy although is helpful (which I'm grateful of that, that's why I tolerate him) just wouldn't stop talking. During lunch, he would go on and on and on about some stale news or his warped opinions (but sometimes tend to be okay) or about politics or what his friend told him (which is where he got his stale news from) but in the end just wanted to show off that he knows quite a lot and that he's smart. Little did he know (which I never told him), that his info is usually old news or just half of the story which he heard from his friend.

And don't get me started on his command of English. Sometimes that tend to bring trouble due to miscommunication (Thank god not from me yet. Usually I clarify things for him). He just talk and talk and talk. One day, when he just started working here, I didn't realized that he asked my opinion so frequently that I failed to get a single thing done on that day. And now because of that, people tend to think I'm slow in doing things.

What did I do to deserve this? Can't I just get a nice decent job that allows me to have a life?

Friday, April 10, 2009

Once again, I've managed to explode a CD again.I once had a CD exploded in my CD-ROM during my Pentium III days. At that time, I wasn't even using or accessing the CD at all! It just decided to spin really fast in it and +BOOM+ an explosion was all I heard. At that time, I didn't know what that loud noise was. I looked around my PC and everything looks fine. Checked the PSU (Power Supply Unit) and it was fine. Sniffed around for any burning scent - nothing.I only discovered that it was the CD that exploded the next morning. Turned on my computer and looked suspiciously at the CD drive on the windows explorer showing that it was empty when I clearly remember that I had a CD in it. When I ejected the drive, bits and pieces of the CD dropped out. It was the HP printer driver CD at that time.On Wednesday, I did it again! This time it was a costly one:

Sunday, April 05, 2009

It's amazing how the order of who became Prime Minister of Malaysia follows the acronym of our first Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. This has been a long time speculation since god knows when. The order are as follows:

Actually, people speculated that the fifth Prime Minister would be Anwar Ibrahim during Mahathir's time. And then came the complications. Scandals and conspiracies blossomed as if the world scene with Bill Clinton wasn't enough. But should he became prime minister that would've fit the A too!

Saturday, April 04, 2009

I'm still in a foul mood.This coming 5th will be my confirmation but no surprises one side of the company has offered quite bad comments.

My boss on the IT dept mentions to me that he's baffled receiving two very different comments on two sides. One side just mentioned a lot of good comments while the other, which comes as no surprise, offers bad comments. That dept has a really hard to please General Manager which I had a bit of a bad term with her because I don't like spending all my time ensuring only her side has no problems. I like to schedule my own time on when I can rectify their problem WITHOUT informing her every freaking day on what's the progress of it.

No matter, my boss wants me to be confirmed and asked me I just gotta learn on how to deal with different people.

Still won't change my foul mood which started on Tuesday. The bad comments got to me and made me feel mad. Kinda feel that there won't be an increment in my salary upon confirmation which also makes me mad. Might as well stay unconfirmed until six months.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

When people commit suicide, they do it because they have problems which they are unable to resolve. Recently, I had the same desire to end my life again but this time the reason seems to be wee bit queer. Ok, maybe very queer. I just feel like committing suicide because I'm at the peak of my happiness now and just recently, something happen which left me feeling a wee bit down again.

It all started with the entry of a new colleague in my present company (By the way, last year, I broke my record of changing the most job in a year with a total of four jobs in a year). I was happy that the person entered because I did not need to help out in tasks that aren't mine anymore since there's someone to take over. It was hell in the beginning because every single day the person would call me to help out on something and it takes up quite a lot of my time (I even feared my boss would think that I'm sneaking some time off).

A few days after, I was shocked to hear from the person telling me that it was her last day of work. On that day itself, I was in such a foul mood. I felt angry on that day and sad the next day. Just felt like I've wasted those few days doing nothing.

Whilst I was reflecting on that on my sad day, I kinda felt regret knowing that person. I was on a happiness streak for about two years now without ever feeling sad once. Not even my recent accident made me feel down at all. And here it is this person only took a few days to get me down again. What an accomplishment!